Wheel barrow handles



Aug. 25, 1959 P. J. VAN LOON, JR

WHEEL BARROW HANDLES Filed Dec. 26, 1956 F It. l 1 H INVENTOR. PETER J.VAN LOON,JR

ATTORNEY 5 United States Patent Of WHEEL BARROW HANDLES Peter J. VanLoon, Jn, Portland, Oreg.

Application December 26, 1956, Serial No. 630,502

1 Claim. (Cl. 280--47.31)

The present invention relates to wheel barrows, and more particularly towheel barrow handles.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a hand grip for wheelbarrow handles that will remain in fixed relation to the hand of theoperator, not only when wheeling the wheel barrow, but when dumping thesame.

Heretofore, the operator had to change his grip on the wheel barrowhandles when dumping the load from the barrow, but with this new grip hecan retain a tight hold on the handle at all times.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent in the followingspecification when considered in the light of the attached drawings, inwhich:

Figure l is a side view of a conventional wheel barrow incorporating theinvention.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary enlarged plan view of one of the handles.

Figure 3 is a side view of a portion of the handle and the grip, partsbroken away for convenience of illustration.

Referring now to the drawings in detail wherein like referencecharacters indicate like parts throughout the several figures, thereference character B indicates generally a wheel barrow constructed inaccordance with the invention. The wheel barrow B includes combinationframe members and handle bars for supporting a hopper 11 thereon. Awheel 12 is journalled to the frames 10 at 13. The frames 10 extendbeyond wheel 12 as at 14. Supporting legs 15 are also of conventionalform and are secured to the rames 111.

The invention consists of providing handles G on the outer ends 16 ofthe framework 18. The handles G consist of hand grips 17, which arepivotally connected at 18 to body members 19. The body members 19consist of reduced cylindrical bosses 20, which are telescoped withinthe ends 16 of the wheel barrow frame members 10, and locked therein bycross pins 21.

The body member 19 has a tongue 22 integrally formed thereon andextending oppositely of the boss 20; the tongue 22 is positioned betweena pair of spaced parallel ears 23 forming bifurcated ends of the handgrips 17. A pivot pin 24 is inserted through the tongue 22 and the ears23 and secured therein by riveted ends 25.

The lower outer end of the tongue 22 of the body member 19 forms aradius 26 about the pin 24, while the lower forward end 27 of thebifurcated extensions 23 are also rounded. This permits their movementrelative to shoulders 28 formed at the juncture of the tongue 22 and thebody member 19 and in relation to the crotch 29 between the ears 23 ofthe grip 17. The upper edge of the ears 23 are squared at 30, as bestillustrated in Figure 3. This squared end 30 engages the shoulders2,901,263 Patented Aug. 25, 1959 28 of the body member 19 when the handgrip 17 is in the position shown in full line in Figure 3 of thedrawings.-

A finger guard 31 forms part of the grip 17 and ex= tends downwardly toprotect the fingers of the operator when the wheel barrow B is raised tothe broken line position shown in Figure 1. This finger guard 31 alsolimits the movement of the hand grips 17 to the broken line position asshown in Figure 3.

In the operation of this new and improved handle for wheel barrows B,the grip 17 operates in a straight line position while wheeling thebarrow B, but on tipping the wheel barrow B on its extension 14 of theframes 10 the hand grip 17 will move to the broken line position,permitting the operator to keep a solid grip on the hand grips 17 whiledumping the wheel barrow B.

Having thus described the preferred embodiment of the invention, itshould be understood that numerous structural modifications andadaptations may be resorted to without departing from the scope of theappended claim.

What is claimed is:

In combination a wheel barrow having a tubular frame, a pair of hollowsubstantially cylindrical rearwardly extending free end portionsintegrally formed on said frame, a body member arranged in axiallyaligned relation to each of said free end portions of said frame, acylindrical boss integrally extending from one end of each of said bodymembers and telescoped respectively within the adjacent free endportions, means rigidly securing said boss in said frame, a verticallydisposed tongue integrally formed on the other end of each of said bodymembers and extending oppositely of said boss, each of said tongueshaving a width less than the width of said body members and formingoppositely disposed shoulders at the juncture of said body member andsaid tongue, a handle adjacent said other end of each of said bodymembers, a pair of spaced parallel ears integrally formed on one end ofsaid handle and positioned on opposite sides of said tongue, ahorizontal pivot pin securing said ears to said tongue, means on saidears for engaging said shoulders to limit upward swinging movement ofsaid handle to a point with said handle axially aligned with the freeend of said frame, and means on said handle for engaging said bodymember to limit downward swinging movement of said handle to a pointwith said handle depending substantially perpendicularly from saidtongue, said handles pivoting downwardly into engagement with said bodymembers during dumping of the contents of said wheel barrow whereby theuser may retain his grasp on said handles at all times during thedumping operation without having to shift the position of his hands.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS314,185 Knowlton Mar. 17, 1885 633,648 Kauffman Sept. 26, 1899 1,242,418Booth Oct. 9, 1917 1,243,153 Gabler Oct. 16, 1917 1,485,179 Funk Feb.26, 1924 1,881,990 Zitzer Oct. 11, 1932 2,441,689 Daniel May 18, 19482,516,852 Burry Aug. 1, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 159,334 Switzerland Mar.16, 1933

